Victims of child sex abuse have narrated their ordeal in the Mangrove Mountain Ashram where they were repeatedly raped by their guru, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.
News.com.au reported one of the young girls, now aged 47, as telling the child sex abuse royal commission that when she left the ashram at the age of 18, she had no idea how to live in society and use cutlery or wear a bra.
The victim revealed that the children at the ashram were asked to go out on sex patrols at night to report any adults flouting the celibacy rule, while their guru had sex with his partner, known as Shishy, and raped some of the teenage girls.
Another victim revealed that she was 15 when she was first raped by the guru, who covered her mouth with his hand as she screamed in pain. Akhandananda told her that the pain was her Kundalini energy rising. The victim said that she felt violated and devastated.
It has been revealed that the swami and Shishy enjoyed the luxury of hot showers, champagne and whisky, a hot tub, a TV set and comfy beds while the rest of the ashram had no such privileges.
The commission in Sydney is reportedly looking into the action taken by the Satyananda Yoga Ashram in regard to complaints of sexual abuse made against their spiritual leader in the mid to late 1980s.
The report further added that the swami, who is now dead, was convicted of several child sex assault charges in the late 1980s but the convictions were overturned because they were outside the 12-month time laid down by statute to bring the charges.